Resisting the King
by phantasm
Summary: A cursed book transports two enemies into a living, jumbled up fairy tale, where Draco becomes prince, and Hermione is stuck living with three prince-adoring stepsisters and an evil stepmother. DHr
1. Prologue: How It Began

**Warnings**: **BOOK 5 SPOILERS!**  (And some cursing, too!) 

**Summary**: A cursed book transports two enemies into a living, jumbled up fairy tale, where Draco becomes prince, and Hermione is stuck living with three prince-adoring stepsisters and an evil stepmother.  A fairy tale romance, with less ups than downs.      

Resisting the King 

Prologue: How It Began

Transparent sheets of her blond hair blew delicately in the biting wind, swirling with the waves of snow drifting so pristinely upon the Hogwarts' grounds.  Surrounding students stopped packing their perfect snowballs and drew away from their snowman creations to momentarily marvel at the sight of her trudging through the deep layers of snowfall- not due to an overabounding beauty, not because she was hideous to look at, but due to their general consensus that she, Luna Lovegood, was most _definitely_ a loony one.  

Eyes bulged at the thin chemise she wore year-round, and the floaty silver skirt she reserved especially for weekends- every weekend she was liberated from classes, whether sweltering heat or wading through torrents of snowfall.  

Luna hugged her arms to her chest, holding a thick tome close to protect it from the biting gusts of snow-thick wind.  The sound of crunching snow grew heavy behind her, and she brought up a hand to shield her eyes from the wind and looked.      

Draco Malfoy, Pansy Parkinson, Crabbe-Goyle (Luna was convinced they were actually only one person and refused to name them separately) all towered behind her, their faces glimmering with snide leers.

"_Love_ what you're wearing, Loony," Pansy cooed, "Perfect for the weather."

"Why thank you, Pansy," she replied sincerely with a smile, choosing to remain oblivious to the sarcasm.  

Pansy's grin disappeared, hurt that her unpleasant words hadn't made the desired impact.  

"What are you holding?" asked Draco suddenly, oddly interested.

"A book," she deadpanned.   

There was a breath of stupefied silence.  

And then he effortlessly lunged and tore the book from her delicate, pale-fingered grasp, and gave her a snide, winning smirk.  _No one _made a Malfoy feel stupid.  Pansy released a hideous cackle, clapping delightedly at Draco's heroism.

The pallid girl merely stared, protuberant eyes continuing to rake across them. 

"You probably should give that back," she intoned airily, outstretching an impatient hand.  

"Why?  Is _Loony_ Lovegood going to cry?" Pansy screwed her face into an exaggerated pout, puffing out her glossed lips and looking dolefully up from beneath a fringe of mascara.  

"What use is it to you?" she questioned dreamily, and with a half-smile, added, "None of you are bright enough to know how to use it, anyway."

"I'm a prefect for a reason," Draco cut in indignantly, ignoring Crabbe and Goyle who were restlessly grunting and cracking their knuckles.  "The only reason I _wouldn't_ know how to use it is if it's some useless 'artifact' your affected father claims to have obtained from the Rumple Skinned Humpbacks-"

"Crumple Horned Snorkacks, you mean.  And you're welcome to borrow it, I suppose.  Just return it once you realize you can't figure it out.  Or once you can't figure how to _get _out."

Luna smiled again, to a pun only she understood, and basked in their baffled expressions.  

And that simply, without even putting up a fight, she gave them a slight wave and walked off, her slender figure quickly obscured by a shadow of snowfall.  

"Well," rumbled Crabbe after a breath of shocked silence and another prominent crack of  a knuckle. "We showed her."    

Goyle grunted in agreement.

____

And the news of the big bad Slytherin thugs harassing the poor, defenseless Ravenclaw traveled along the Hogwarts gossip chain fast, and the boasting had already begun.

"You should have seen her crying," Pansy exclaimed as she strutted through the hallway with an expanding group of admiring fourth years, "She was practically on her knees begging."

"Really, Pansy?" they exclaimed in unison, "I wish I could be like you!"

And with a satisfied smirk and a brilliant toss of her hair, she traipsed to the Great Hall for lunch as they followed, two steps behind, lugging her makeup suitcase and an armload of her books and quills.

Already at the Great Hall, this event caused quite the commotion at the Gryffindor table, and Luna had become an honorary Gryffindor for the day, taking a seat between Hermione and Harry as they attempted to do both an interrogation and devour several plates of lunch.   

"So what did exactly Malfoy do to you?" Hermione asked breathlessly, between bites of chicken.  

"He's just borrowing my book," Luna replied, dismissively, looking dreamily off into the empty space behind Hermione.

Ron shot her a withering look.

"_Borrowing_ your book?  Since when were you on such good terms with that prat?"

"And I hope you _do_ know he's not going to give it back," added Hermione, matter-of-fact, giving Ron an approving nod. 

"Of course he will," Luna replied, less perturbed than Ron and Hermione would have liked.  "He doesn't know what to do with it."

"Well," began Ron tentatively, "Since it's a book, wouldn't you _read_ it?"

"Oh, Ron," sighed Hermione, clearly annoyed, "I'm sure Malfoy wouldn't have gone through the trouble to steal-"

"-Borrow," interjected Luna coldly. "He's _borrowing_ it."

"_Okay_," Hermione continued, "he wouldn't have gone through the trouble to 'borrow' a normal book, would he?  It must be special in some way-"

"He got it from the leader of the Crumple Horned Snorkacks," Luna answered proudly, the dreamy smile finally returning to her face.  

"So then isn't this important to you?" 

"Of course it is-"

Hermione stood up at once.  

"Then _I'm going to go get it!_" she declared loudly as she banged a fist decisively against the wooden table, eliciting several questioning looks from neighboring Gryffindors.  

Just then, she saw a familiar, pointy-faced, slick-haired ferret skulking out of the double doors and disappearing into the hallway-

-holding a large, unmistakable maroon tome.

Hunter having spotter prey, she stormed out of the hall and became his shadow.

___

Draco threw the book atop of the desk in frustration.  He raked his fingers across the smooth maroon cover, made of some aging animal hide and embossed with fading strips of gold.  Twenty minutes had gone by and he couldn't even manage to _open it.  It's aging pages remained shut, red binding still taut and gleaming up at him tauntingly.  _

He had, of course, tried physically prying it open, using all his strength yet still unable to even bend open a corner.  Luna's words repeated tauntingly in his mind:

_None of you are bright enough to know how to use it!_

He snatched the book off the table and slammed it upon it once more in frustration, not even rewarded by a simple groan of the spine or a crease in the binding.

At that, Hermione Granger burst through the door, wand raised and pointed, aimed straight at his face.  

"Has Luna sent one of her dogs to collect this for her?" he mocked, waving the tome in from of his face casually.  A smirk grew on his face as she bristled perceptibly.

"Speaking of _dogs, where's your pug-faced lover __Pansy?  Too busy screwing every other guy in school?"_

"Oh, Hermione," he scolded mockingly, "There's no need to be bitter because a _Dirtblood like you can't get anyone but Dirty Potter who never washes his hair and Dirt-poor Weasly-"_

"_Shut up, Malfoy.  Just give me the damn book."_

He let out an exaggerated sigh, and extended the book towards her, teasingly.  Hermione grabbed for it, and he swiped it away, just out of reach.  

"What's the use in giving it to you?  You probably couldn't open it, either."

"Of course I could!" she sputtered in reply, indignant.  

"If a Pureblood can't open it, I'm sure someone of _your kind_ wouldn't be able to…"

"Oh _shut up and let me try."_

He smirked as she grabbed the book from his grasp and set it on the table, looking at it speculatively.  She had, of course, fallen into his trap.  Draco would get the satisfaction of finding out what was inside, without actually having to work for it.

Dumb Mudblood.

"It's simple!" she exclaimed suddenly, whipping her wand out of a fold in her robes.  "The Quibbler reported that the Snorkack's major weakness is the fact that they're deathly ticklish.  So if we wanted to unbind their charm, all we would have to do is-" 

She pointed her wand at the book.  "-_Rictusempra!"_

Suddenly, the book emitted a hollow laugh, and an airy _Click!_ confirmed her hypothesis immediately.  Hermione turned to face Draco, triumphantly.  

"So _what were you saying about _my kind_?"_

But he ignored her, he was already at the book, his fingers thumbing the cover and now tugging it open-

And before Hermione could stop him, it was open, and a brilliant flash of yellow completely enveloped them.

Later, when Harry and Ron would look for her, they would find only an empty classroom, her wand, and the tome, lying harmlessly open upon a desk.  

____

**Author's Note**:  Hopefully, that wasn't too painful to read.  I was inspired to write this story for a number of reasons: 

1) Recent late night marathons of Fushigi Yuugi 

2) Classic Disney movies 

Please _review_!  They encourage me to snap out of my perpetual writer's block and make me feel less crappy about my writing.  And of course, helpful criticisms are _always_ welcome.  Thanks for reading!


	2. Chapter One: Inequitable Revelations

**Warnings**: **BOOK 5 SPOILERS!**  (And some swearing, too!) 

**Summary**: A cursed book transports two enemies into a living, jumbled up fairy tale, where Draco becomes prince, and Hermione is stuck living with three prince-adoring stepsisters and an evil stepmother.  A fairy tale romance, with less ups than downs.      

Resisting the King 

Chapter One: Inequitable Revelations 

"It wouldn't be wise to speak of this right in front of him."

"Who cares?  He's asleep."

"And if he hears?"

"He already knows everything I say to be true," the King sighed heavily, wearily glancing at his sleeping son, trapped beneath layers of silk sheets.  "And of course, he never listens."

"Maybe he's not ready," began the mother, stroking her son's face with a gentle hand.  "He's only seventeen-"

"Older than _I _was when we got married," he sniffed in response.

"Times have changed.  You need to be more patient-"

"My deteriorating health, Amelia, is not patiently _waiting_ for my son to find a suitable princess-"

The Queen grasped her husband's hand, eyed him pleadingly, and led him out of the room, past the son's hearing.

But the son had already heard quite enough.

As soon as the door had swung closed, Draco rigidly bolted upright, wiping the nervous sweat that had accumulated on his brow with a swipe of his arm.  His face was burning, he had never been so terribly confused or afraid in his life.  

What he _had_ picked up from the harrowing conversation: merely that it was between an _Amelia_, who had taken to stroking his face (for which he felt _very_ dirty) and a man who wanted him married who claimed to be his father:

Well, where _was_ his father?  _Lucius_ would certainly straighten this out, intimidating people who needed to be intimidated, paying off others that refused, or Draco's personal favorite- hexing the hell out of anyone else who resisted.  

He rolled off the ridiculous, femininely canopied bed, ran over to the door and burst it open.  And surely, _Amelia_ and "his father" were there, eyeing him strangely as he stood awkwardly in the doorway.

"Where is Lucius?" he bellowed, knowing full well that if his father ever heard that his son had called him by the first name, he would lose a limb.

"Lucius, honey?" replied Amelia, reaching out to comfort him.  "Who is that, dear?"

"Lucius _Malfoy_," Draco repeated firmly, flinching from the older woman's grasp.

The man gave him a knowing stare, accompanied by a short nod.

"Another nightmare, Draco?  Eat something, your confusion will soon pass."

"And _what_ are you wearing?" asked Amelia, just noticing and looking quite scandalized at the sight of his Hogwarts robes.  She screwed up her face to look at the badge, "What is _Slytherin_?"

And that's when Draco remembered- Luna, her cursed book, Hermione in the empty classroom, and then that flash of light-

Something told him he wasn't at Hogwarts anymore.  And that he wasn't Draco Malfoy, son of Lucius and Narcissa, having woken up peacefully at the Malfoy Manor….

"Who… exactly… am I?" he asked tentatively, immediately answered with odd expressions.

"I _told_ you he was going insane!" the man yelled angrily.

"The poor baby just had a nightmare!  And what kind of father are you to call your own _son_ insane?!"

Draco blanched when Amelia shouted the word _son_.  

The woman cleared her throat and looked at him with a sympathetic smile.

"You, dear, are the Crown Prince of the Kingdom of Cire ruled by your father, King Christopher"- she pointed at the man beside her, who grunted irritably- "and myself."

"_And_, you must get married very soon," added the King grumpily.

"_Christopher_!"

_Crown Prince_?  Suddenly, this wasn't as bad as he had thought.  But the marriage-

He thought about it for a moment.

-couldn't be quite as bad as he originally had thought.  As crown prince, he would have the pick of the best girls in the whole _kingdom_, every single power-hungry, gold-digging one (which would be all of them, of course)!  This would be ever _better_ than Hogwarts!  For he had even _more_ money and infinite amount of power...  

"Well, Father, if you wish me married," he sighed dejectedly, belying the excitement he felt buzzing through him, "I guess I have no choice."

He hung his head down magnificently, blonde locks streaming over his forlorn face.

"_That's_ my boy!" the man bellowed excitedly, giving Draco a fatherly pat on the back, "I'll send for all the ladies in the kingdom!  In all the neighboring kingdoms!  We'll have an enormous ball and find you a fabulous princess, and…"

He walked off, trailing on and on with his magnificent plans to himself.  

"I hope you know what you're doing," his mother said quietly.  

"I hope so too."

____

"God, that lazy bitch.  Look at her, she's sleeping _again._"

"Like, _seriously_!  She thinks we keep her in the house just so she can lie all over the floor like some tramp."

"I mean, look at her, she can't even make it to her bed before passing out."  

"Disgraceful."

"Seriously," the thin girl responded, delivering a sharp kick to the sleeping figure.  "_Get up!"  _

Her partner shrieked with laughter, her rolls of fat rumbling with delight.  

"Oh Anastazia, _really_, you call that a kick?"

She lifted her billowing dress to the knee, unveiling her muscular calf, and gave the girl a sharp swing to the rib.

The girl woke with a start.  

"Unph!" Hermione cried as another heeled foot slammed into her stomach.  Groggily, she opened her eyes and found herself staring up at two hideous faces, one sallow and thin, the other rolling with multiple chins.

"So you're finally awake, _princess_," she slender girl remarked snidely with a mock-bow, "Do you have _any _idea what time it is?"

"Of course she doesn't, Ana, look at her.  She so dazed she probably doesn't even know where she is."

"Oh Druzillda, what will we _ever _do with her?"

Druzillda snapped two chubby fingers in front of Hermione's face impatiently.

"Are you forgetting your place here?  The only reason we keep you here is so you can do our chores and you can't even do that!"

Hermione, unlike Draco, caught on much quicker to the fact that she _definitely_ was not at Hogwarts, or anywhere _near_ Hogwarts, for that matter.  She remembered it clearly, that flash of light from the opened book which shot through both of them, and then the blurry, trans-dimensional journey…  But just to make sure she wasn't in the same place…

"Voldemort, Voldemort, Voldemort!" she yelled, suddenly, waiting for some reaction.  None, except for two identical glares.  Okay, so she _obviously wasn't anywhere in the wizardring world…  _

"She's gone absolutely nutty," marveled 

Draco, that obnoxious prat didn't realize that the book was bound for a _reason_.  And by opening it, he either activated a portal within the novel, or even worse- awakened the Thief's Curse that guarded it.

She groaned and pulled herself to her feet.  

"Now that you're _finally_ up," remarked Anastazia bitterly, "You can go to town and buy some silk for my dress."

"Wait, why are _you_ getting a new dress?" asked Druzillda with a frown.

"Because Mother is sending me to the castle tomorrow," she replied, matter-of-fact.  

"To do _what_?"

"To stand outside the castle gates so that Prince Draco might see me from his window."

"And why can't _I_ go?"

"Because for _your_ dress, you would need more silk than we could afford.  Maybe if you lost some weight-"

"Wait," interjected Hermione suddenly, "Prince _WHO?_"

Both girls shot her a nasty glare.

"She must have been more dazed than we thought," said Druzillda disapprovingly.

"Probably out drinking with old men, like her tramp of a mother," remarked the other with a smirk."

"Prince _Draco_," Druzillda finally answered with smirk.  "Only the hottest-"

"Richest-" added Anastazia.

"Wealthiest-"

"Swoon-worthy-"

"Powerful-"

"_Dashing_-"

"Eligible bachelor-prince in the whole _world_!" Druzillda finally finished, after their tiring tag-team.

Hermione gagged.  So Draco was _prince_, and _she_ was stuck with these idiots?  

"Not that it matters to _you,_" the thin girl cooed.  "He has no time for _servants_."

Hermione blankly stared at them for a full minutes, watching their faces rapidly turn pink with anger.  

"What are you waiting for?  Go get that silk!"

___

**Author's Note**: So the story's developed a little more now and I've introduced most of the major characters (except for Stepsister #3, their mother, and a few surprise cameos).  I know, boring plot, blahblah… hopefully I can get this moving soon!

A big thanks to all the readers and those who reviewed my last chapter.  I think one reviewer (Bombshell) hit the Send button a few too many times… but still, thanks!

arbitrary, of course I'm not quitting the Secret Keeper.  It's crappiness is getting to me, though, and I get all depressed when I reread it.  Ugh.  Although some more chapters of TI might inspire me?  : )

Banana Flavored Eskimo: Midnight DVD marathons, yes.  Very exciting  : )  And am I the only Hotohori fan in the world?  : (


End file.
